“There is a case for just deciding to go for it and that is what I did with
Oxbridge Applications. Even my Business Link adviser told me not to do it
but I did it anyway. I could just see there was this need for students from
less privileged backgrounds to be given help to demystify the process of
applying to Oxbridge. When you have competition, though, it’s so important
to be clear about where you want to be in the marketplace. That’s where good
planning comes in.”
Testing your business and product ideas before you take any big risks is
another key part of the planning process. The internet is a good place to do
so inexpensively, says Martin Binks of the University of Nottingham
Institute for Enterprise and Innovation.
“There are lots of quick and cheap ways to test your ideas. Surveys, blogs and
e-mail questionnaires can be a useful finger in the air when you want to
check if people like your product or not and how much they will be prepared
to pay for it.”
Online tools can also help you evaluate your business idea’s strengths and
weaknesses before you start acting on it, said Binks, who has been involved
in developing a free tool called WIN² at winsquared.co.uk. “It takes people
through 42 different questions to force them to think through their business
ideas more fully.”
Using a tool like this helps test assumptions about whom your business should
serve and what model it should be built on, said Binks. “The pre-concept
stage for a business can be critical, but people very often don’t address it
very closely.
“The danger in not thinking creatively or laterally about your business idea
is that you may not have considered more imaginative ways to tackle the
problem.”
Creating an inventive business need not involve dramatic product innovation.
It can be about tweaking your business model. Small changes can turn an
average business idea into a winner, said Binks.
“Green Thumb is a great example of a simple business focusing on doing one
thing very well: looking after your lawn. They don’t try to offer extensive
gardening and landscaping services but they do offer to look after your lawn
more cheaply than you could yourself because they buy all the treatments and
equipment in bulk. It was also a great idea for a business because it was
one that could be franchised.”
Once you have come up with a business model and plan, test them to destruction
before you get started, said Binks. “Ask friends to tear your business ideas
apart. It can force you to look at the negatives because a lot of would-be
entrepreneurs only see the positive things in their plans.
“These can be useful exercises because they take your point of view out of the
equation. You can then ask another group of friends to see what you’ve got
left and rebuild your idea into a stronger proposition.”
